{"id":689776,"date":"2026-06-07T12:43:18","date_gmt":"2026-06-07T12:43:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/689776\/"},"modified":"2026-06-07T12:43:18","modified_gmt":"2026-06-07T12:43:18","slug":"how-to-keep-your-lawn-healthy-during-extreme-dry-conditions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/689776\/","title":{"rendered":"How to keep your lawn healthy during extreme dry conditions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Va. (WSET) \u2014 Our area is plagued by either extreme or severe drought, and the dry weather isn\u2019t good for much of anything, especially your lawn.<\/p>\n

Experts say maintaining a healthy lawn is a balancing act. From watering to mowing, doing too much can put additional stress on your grass and dry it out even more.<\/p>\n

Co-owner of Gary\u2019s Garden Center, Nelson Garner, said the effects of the drought are already visible in many lawns.<\/p>\n

He said the tool for lawn care is simple, but it has to be used correctly.<\/p>\n

Water is essential, but not using enough of it can also cause problems.<\/p>\n

\u201cIdeally want to saturate the soil to about an inch and a half to two inches deep where the root zone on a good turf grass lawn is,” said Garner.<\/p>\n

Experts also warn that watering at the wrong time of day can make conditions worse by heating the lawn even more.<\/p>\n

SEE ALSO: Locals rally to support Korean War veteran in an effort to restore his independence<\/a><\/p>\n

Owner of Champions Lawn Care, Cody Richmond, said timing is key.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo it early in the morning so the sun doesn\u2019t sear it. A lot of people will try to water midday, and the sun is kind of like a magnifying glass,” said Richmond.<\/p>\n

He also said checking your soil before mowing is important, because cutting grass when it is too dry can add stress.<\/p>\n

An easy way to check is the old-fashioned screwdriver test. Stick a screwdriver about three to four inches into the ground, pull it out, and check whether soil particles are sticking to it.<\/p>\n

If there are none, the root zone is dry and not a good time to mow. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf you stick it in, you bring out a little mud, your ground has enough moisture to truly be healthy,” said Richmond.<\/p>\n

When it is time to mow, both experts say to raise mower blades to about three to four inches to prevent cutting the grass too short.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you cut it down very low, or a lot lower than three inches, that allows sunlight to get down into the soil and actually dries it out that much faster.\u201d<\/p>\n

Richmond says lawn care often requires daily judgment depending on conditions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s how we\u2019re tackling every day. I mean, we\u2019re having the choice to choose whether to cut or not, and that\u2019s how we\u2019re going to have to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

With hot and dry weather continuing, experts said proper lawn care can help keep grass in good shape throughout the summer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Va. (WSET) \u2014 Our area is plagued by either extreme or severe drought, and the dry weather isn\u2019t…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":689777,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[192,79],"class_list":["post-689776","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/689776","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=689776"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/689776\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/689777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=689776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=689776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=689776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}